Late last month, someone robbed a Colorado Springs Papa Murphy’s with a machete. According to police, the man threatened the victim with the knife/tool/weapon, then “continued to be aggressive towards the victim by swinging the machete as he was leaving the store.” Police are now asking anyone with information on the crime to contact Crime-Stoppers at 719.634.STOP {7867} or text CSPD and the tip to 847411 {TIP411}.

Luckily, none of these incidents ended up like a recent case in Miami, where a man attacked two people with a machete before police shot him. A neighbor described the suspect as “chopping (the victims) up.”

There’s no way to tell if there is an uptick in machetes being used in crimes and if so, what might be driving it. Perhaps they are inspired by what looks to have been a horrible movie, Machete, with one-time criminal Danny Trejo, Robert DeNiro and Jessica Alba. Maybe more people have machetes lying around the house than one would imagine. Who knows.